Prime Cuts

Slices of great NFL content from around the web

Eric Decker is better. Demaryius Thomas is better. Everybody is better on that team. Their defense just got better. Their defense was middle of the pack? You watch because now they will be playing with a lead. I am not talking about the last 2 minutes of the game. I am talking about early on because he will put pressure on the opposing team. They are going to score some points now. Willis McGahee will never run into an 8-man front again ever.

When John threw the ball if I stayed up with John and he threw the ball to the right he was telling me, ‘Shannon go to the right.’ If he put the ball between my numbers and I was staying? He was telling me to get up in my shadows. You take that for granted because you are like okay. Now you play with somebody else and throw the ball to the other side and you get your face mask twisted because he threw you towards where the defensive guy was. Great quarterbacks see everything.

Even as they add Manning, the Broncos can’t afford to simply insert him into the lineup and start printing out 2012 AFC WEST CHAMPIONS T-shirts. This was an 8-8 team that had the point differential of a 5.8-win team last season. Manning is going to make them better — perhaps significantly better — but he’s not going to be enough to turn them into a championship-caliber team alone. Denver needs to be in on adding those offensive weapons for Manning and should consider targeting options to improve their limited secondary, especially at cornerback. Ironically, their best option across from Champ Bailey might be free agent Tracy Porter, who took a Manning interception to the house to seal Super Bowl XLIV. If they start with Andre’ Goodman out there, Manning might make it a mission to Roc Alexander him in practice. Adding a defensive tackle is also a priority after Brodrick Bunkley hit free agency and Ryan McBean got suspended. Re-signing Bunkley would be ideal.

Anyone that makes a Roc Alexander reference deserves some respect.

The article raises a good point, which is thus: the Broncos shouldn't relax just because they won the Manning derby.

While some in the Manning camp have suggested a decision would come by Tuesday, Manning hasn’t stated that himself to teams, sources said, and teams are waiting patiently to hear back from him following his workouts…

Manning hasn’t entered into contract negotiations with the final teams, sources said, and officials with those teams figure that Manning, if and when he chooses where he wants to play, will directly contact the team to let them know he wants to proceed, and then the expectation is Condon will take over negotiations.

“There is a very small circle involved in this,” said one source with knowledge of the situation. “It may really just be Peyton, his father and his wife.”

Manning has told teams he expects to be able to participate in organized team activities this spring, and, with six months or so before the season starts, his health is becoming less and less of a concern.

I disagree with the notion the Broncos would have trouble trading Tim Tebow if they land free-agent Peyton Manning.

True, the quarterback spots are filling up. There are way more quality backup QBs available (Vince Young, Josh Johnson, Dennis Dixon) than backup jobs. GMs and coaches might balk at adding Tebow, who plays quarterback along a path unfamiliar to NFL GMs and coaches, and also carries along the distraction of a passionate fan base.

But as we learned from Tennessee’s late pursuit of Peyton Manning, owners have the right to trump the GM and coach.

Tebow, all by himself, lifted the Broncos from a six-year malaise in 2011. Tebow singlehandedly made the Broncos relevant in 2011. Tebow singlehandedly energized the Broncos’ fan base. And Tebow all but singlehandedly lifted a bad team _ NFL worst 7-24 from Nov. 1, 2009 until he got his first start in Game 6 of 2011 _ to the playoffs.

This runs counter to the opinion of people like Cecil Lammey, who wrote: I talk to every team in the league, NOT media guys...evaluators, scouts, front office guys - there's 0 market for TT

But it only takes one team, of course, which is a lot less than the number of people who need to purchase Klis' book for him to ca$h.

The problem is that most free agent quarterbacks aren’t going to want to step into a situation where they’re viewed by the Tebowmaniacs in Denver as the guy who was brought in to push Tebow out. PFT’s Mike Florio has heard that the Broncos looked into the possibility of signing Matt Flynn, but Flynn wanted nothing to do with the no-win situation that is replacing Tebow in Denver, or competing with him in training camp.

Hasselbeck or Smith, however, may find themselves without any better option if Manning chooses the Titans or 49ers. The chance to start in Denver is better than no chance to start anywhere.

Having Tebow breathing down his neck (and condoning the infamous pro-Tim billboards) turned Kyle Orton into a skittish turnover machine last year, so it's somewhat understandable if Flynn doesn't want to compete with the circus. But what if the team were to sign Flynn and trade/cut Tebow? Is that still too much to bear? If that's the case, then let's be glad Denver's not in on Flynn.

The Broncos have had no contact with Tim Tebow since the Manning courtship began…The Broncos have not pestered Manning for progress reports or a decision since he left Denver on Saturday. John Elway is driving this bus. He and Manning connected well during the visit Friday and Saturday.

The bottom line on the Broncos’ pursuit of Manning is this: Elway is in charge, and Elway is interested in Super Bowls. The argument that the Broncos improved last year and won their division (on a tie-breaker) with Tebow, doesn’t cut much ice with Elway. He knows what it takes to be a Super Bowl contender and he believes bringing in Manning is the fastest way to get there. He knows the Manning courtship is a high risk/high reward mission. He believes that going for greatness usually is.

“He is the man I want. Period,” Adams said. “And the people that work for me understand that. They know who I want. I want Mr. Manning with the Titans and I will be disappointed if it doesn’t happen.”

“I hope to be one of the teams he looks at,” the 89-year-old Adams said. ”Since he went to school in Tennessee I think Tennessee is where he should be. I think he could play for two or three years. I think he’s the guy that could come in and turn this around for us.

“That’s why I am so anxious to get him to come visit with us and I want him on my team. I could sit down with him and show him what (we’d be willing to pay). If he would come (meet) with me he would be happy with what he’d get.”

“I want him to be with me the rest of his working period of his life,” Adams said, “even when he doesn’t want to play anymore.”

“But I want Manning. I’d love to see him in Titan blue after watching him so many years with the Colts,” said Adams, the team founder. “I will be upset because if I didn’t get him. I want him. I am ready to do what it takes to get him aboard and I think he’d be the guy to get us into the playoffs.”

But just because it’s smart doesn’t mean it isn’t tacky. It has to gut Tebow to see those photographs of Manning walking into Broncos headquarters accompanied by Elway and Fox…

...If Tebow is shoved out of a franchise he revived, I can’t wait for the day that he comes back and plays the Broncos. I want to see 6-of-22 passing for 78 yards. I want to see passes that wobble like Zip-Loc bags full of soup. But I also want to see a last-minute drive win it. I’ll be pulling for Tebow to exact a Tebow-like revenge.